Integrated Communications Business Plan

Today the world is defined by the term ‘Information Age.’ All businesses, both large and small, require effective and efficient business communication solutions in order to continuously meet their customer expectations and attain a competitive advantage, and therefore be successful. Whether a company is large or small it is realized that, the right amount of financing, materials, talent, and experience are not enough to succeed without a good communication system in place that enables smooth transaction sealing. Communications is at the heart of regional and international integration, with the development of an efficient, cost effective and technologically advanced communications infrastructure essential to Botswana’s success in the global market. With the economies of most countries becoming increasingly sophisticated and knowledge-intensive, there is a greater need for the existence of an efficient network that will enable decision-makers to have access to timely and accurate data to facilitate decision-making and transaction sealing.

We are on the brink of penetrating a lucrative market in a rapidly growing industry. The current increase in the number of entrepreneurs, and competition among existing companies presents an opportunity for Aero Technologies to penetrate the market. Our services/products will be positioned very carefully. They will be of extremely high quality to ensure client satisfaction, supported by impeccable customer service. Aero Technologies will offer the expertise that a proactive oriented and market-opportunity seeking company needs to develop and maintain a good communications system. We intend to provide a number of necessary services the business community and to the public. Initial plans are to introduce five main lines of services, with the primary focus on Multimedia, Call Centre facility, Data Communications and IT, Financial Services, and Knowledge Consulting.

We realize that, for us to prosper, there is need to be flexible and responsive, to delight clients by providing them what they want, when they want it, and before the competition can offer it. The company intends to achieve this through a systematic approach that is customer-centric, and in which the customer’s business objectives enjoy top priority. This involves not only skill and depth of knowledge, but time devoted to studying a customer’s needs. Aero Technologies will view the provision of value-added services over the entire scope of our customers’ requirements as not only essential, but as a competitive advantage which the company protects as a key asset; from service concept to service provision, the intention will be to ensure that every policy and procedure, system and process has the objective of improving the flexibility and response of the whole company. There is a need for interaction between all functional areas, particularly between marketing and service logistics, if the project is to realize its full potential, with marketing being employed as a strategic weapon.

Once the needs and processes are understood and described, leading edge products and best-of-industry skills will be applied to design and develop a fitting solution to satisfy the need and enable the client’s business in the most cost effective way.

Our marketing strategy will be based mainly on ensuring customers know what need the service(s) is able to fulfill, and making the right service and information available to the right target client. We intend to implement a market penetration strategy that will ensure that our services are well known and respected in our respective industry. Our marketing strategy will convey the sense of quality and satisfaction in every picture, every promotion, and every publication. Our promotional strategy will involve integrating traditional advertising, breakfast seminars, events, Internet marketing, personal selling, public relations, and direct marketing, details of which are provided in the marketing section of this plan.

We intend to build our project management team correctly. We need the right people in the right place at the right time if we are to ensure optimum growth. We intend to develop our team so that our people can grow as the company grows — a mutually beneficial relationship.

The intention is to go into partnership with NNN Limited, a company registered in QQQ, and provide financial, IT, and data communications consultancy services to industries in the application and use of latest technologies such as data communication and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), enabling cellular telecommunications.

In a nutshell, we don’t just intend to market and sell our service, but to market and provide a service that will ensure our client’s customer satisfaction, ease of communication, improved corporate logistics, and cost savings on transactions ensuring a total-quality environment. This will ensure we establish and maintain a reputable corporate image. However it should be noted that timing and information provision will be of the utmost importance and significance in terms of the project’s introduction onto the market. In addition we are appreciative of the fact that entering such a market is not a bed of roses, particularly as it is still a relatively new concept needing to be implanted in people’s minds in terms of the benefits it may bring to them, as well as the number of ‘laggard’ firms who often do not easily appreciate the need for change, be it to their benefit. In such a case the need will exist to aggressively market the concept to these organizations and individuals through various means. Hence the intention is to utilize the technical and business know-how of technical partners in order to implement and attain our business objectives.

NOTE: All currency values in this plan are expressed in Botswanan Pula [P].

1.1 Objectives

Our business strategy will revolve around the need to provide quality service and products to our various target clients, in the process fully satisfying their needs. This shall be undertaken through recruitment of a professional telemarketing, sales and technical team and the provision of good quality custom-designed services, catering for the clients’ particular needs.

With time our marketing campaign will increase the knowledge of our services to the various market segments we shall be targeting. This is particularly so with organizations looking at establishing a competitive advantage(s) on the market due to increased competition, hence providing them with the opportunity to focus on their core activities whilst procuring increased business from new and existing customers. Marketing material shall be professionally done so as to be reflective of our intended image and reputation. We shall position ourselves as a quality total communications solution service provider that strives to provide effective and efficient communication solutions. We intend to establish a good rapport with all the relevant stakeholders.

In summary we intend to attain the following objectives:

• Continuously provide professional quality services on time and on budget.
• Develop a follow-up strategy to gauge performance with all our clients.
• Implement and maintain a quality control system and assurance policy.
• To continuously formalize and measure cross-functional working communication so as to ensure that the various departments work harmoniously towards attainment of company objectives.
• To instill a culture of continuous improvement in beating standards of customer satisfaction and efficiency.
• We are fully committed to supporting growth and development in the economy.

1.2 Mission

Aero Technologies, Ltd. offers marketing oriented organizations a reliable, high-quality alternative to in-house resources for business development, market development, and channel development on a local and regional scale. A true alternative to in-house resources offers a very high level of practical experience, know-how, contacts, and confidentiality. Clients will know that working with Aero Technologies is a more professional, less risky way to undertake communication with its various stakeholders, than working completely in-house with their own people. Aero Technologies must also maintain financial balance, charge a reasonable value for its services, and deliver a higher value to its clients. Initial focus will be development in the regional markets, or for international clients in Botswana. Aero Technologies is also an excellent place to work, a professional environment that is challenging, rewarding, creative, and respectful of ideas and individuals. Aero Technologies ultimately provides excellent value to its customers and fair reward to its owners and employees.

Internally we intend to create and nurture a healthy, creative, respectful and enjoyable office environment, in which our employees are fairly compensated and encouraged to respect the customer and the quality of the service we provide. In addition follow-up will be mandatory so as ensure customer satisfaction and make any improvements as recommended by the customers in future. We seek fair and responsible profit, enough to keep the company financially healthy for the short and long term, and to fairly compensate investors for the money and risk.

1.3 Keys to Success

The keys to this project’s success will undoubtedly be effective market segmentation through identification of several niche markets and implementation strategies. Along these lines the company intends to implement personal selling and direct marketing strategies to the target markets. Hence the key success factors will include the following:

1. Excellence in fulfilling the promise: Completely confidential, reliable, trustworthy expertise and service(s) through the provision of an uncompromising service. This dictates that we have in place the latest technology, hardware and software, and well-trained personnel so as to fulfill the aforesaid.
2. Timely response to clients’ orders: We cannot afford to delay our clients for whatever reason, as this will have a negative bearing on our image and reputation, including future business. Hence we need to be continually communicating with the client ensuring we provide needs-based solutions.
3. Skill and depth of knowledge: Considering the nature of our services and their relative infancy on the market, the skill and depth of knowledge of our personnel shall be of utmost importance in determining the provision of the service(s) to the end-users.
4. Marketing know-how: In a relatively volatile market there will be a need to aggressively market our business and the services we provide so as to be continuously at the top of our prospective and current clients minds. This will also act as a temporary deterrent for companies contemplating entering our market. Advertising shall be one of our competitive advantages.
5. Leveraging from a large pool of expertise: The company’s various alliances with technological partners shall prove invaluable considering the skills and intellectual capacity these partners will have in the fields of design and system integration, implementation and execution, lifecycle support and understanding, and in the application of new technology. This has the potential of proving to be an important differentiator on the market.